The number of same-sex couples living in Colorado has increased 60 percent over the past decade, about triple the growth rate of all households in the state, according to new census data released Wednesday.

Almost one-fourth of the same-sex couples are raising children, the data show.

The census identifies couples as same-sex when a person describes her or his relationship with someone of the same gender, living in the same household, as either "husband/wife" or "unmarried partner."

Advocates attribute the increased count to growing social acceptance of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

"I don't know if the census increase signals an actual increase in the GLBT population so much as a willingness to identify as such, due to a more accepting climate," said Drew Wilson, spokesman for the GLBT Community Center in Denver. "About 72 percent of Coloradans support legal recognition of same-sex couples, which tends to create an atmosphere where people are more willing to identify on the census."

Meanwhile, census experts caution that the new results may not be entirely accurate, as the Census Bureau has often changed how it analyzes data on same-sex couples. They say the numbers released Wednesday actually may be an undercount.

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In Colorado, same-sex couples now make up eight of every 1,000 households in Colorado, up from six a decade ago, according to data analyzed for The Denver Post by the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network.

The total number of same-sex couples in the state increased to 16,000 in 2010, from 10,000 in 2000.

The Census Bureau began releasing this information on a state-by-state basis June 16, when Alabama showed a nearly 39 percent increase in same-sex couples over the past decade. Hawaii showed a 78 percent increase.

As with Colorado, Wyoming's same-sex couples are among the fastest-growing segment of the population, showing a 42 percent increase in the past decade, to 1,147 from 807.

In Kansas, there was a 55 percent increase.

"LGBT people used to be clustered in large numbers in a few predictable urban areas, but now, they're actually spreading out and not staying in the 'gay ghettos' as much," said Glenda Russell, a staff psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Colorado, who researches issues in the GLBT community.

"People are going home," she said. "There was a time when there was a push to shut up if you stayed at home, but now people are saying, 'We don't have to leave; we can stay home and be who we are.' "

In Colorado, Mesa County logged an 81 percent increase in same-sex couples to 366 from 202, while El Paso County had an 80 percent increase, to 1,550 from 860.

"These couples have always been part of our communities," said state Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver. "But now there are better methods of counting them and a greater willingness to stand up and be counted."

One reason people might be more comfortable now with being counted, said Wilson, is that "Colorado now has five specific laws to protect them."

Those laws — including a hate-crimes law, protection against employment discrimination and the right of gay couples to adopt — were passed between 2005 and 2009.

Experts at the Williams Institute at UCLA's School of Law, which has specialized for years in same-sex demographics, believe the census data might reflect an undercount because of concerns over confidentiality or fears of discrimination.

An outreach effort has helped, however, Russell said.

"The gay community has been pushing people to 'fess up because (census data) helps us figure trends around so many things," she said. "When you are not letting yourselves be counted, even for a good reason, it's hard to know where people are. Where do you do a public-health thing around lesbians if you don't know where they are?"

In Colorado, the five cities with the largest population of same-sex couples are Denver (4,052), Colorado Springs (1,144), Aurora (986), Lakewood (507) and Boulder (407).

Pueblo West showed a 226 percent increase, to 62 same-sex couples from 19.

Gunbarrel, a Boulder enclave, showed a nearly 17 percent drop, to 25 in 2010 from 30 in 2000.

One-day event to run slide down University HillIt's not quite the alternative mode of transportation that Boulder's used to, but, for one day this summer, residents will be able to traverse several city blocks atop inflatable tubes.

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